The term "Freshman 15" is an expression commonly used in the United States and Canada to refer to weight gain during a student's first year in college.
Causes of this weight gain may be linked to increased alcohol intake, consumption of fat and carbohydrate-rich foods, malnutrition, stress, and decreased levels of exercise.
Additionally, the research showed that the gain was a half pound (around 200 grams) more than non-college students of the same age and that heavy drinking was the main factor for such weight increase.
[8] About 1 in 4 college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing classes, falling behind, doing poorly on exams, and overall receiving lower grades.
In this study, researchers compared the 'healthy eating' scores of 3,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with their overall consumption of alcohol.
Care packages filled with unhealthy treats, usually sent by parents, are found to be the leading cause of weight gain.
Test subjects were made up of male and female freshmen college students who lived on campus.